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Wednesday, July 30, 2014

I got a ton done this week. There are more projects in progress but this post is all about my finishes this week and there are FOUR! One quilt and three crocheted hats. The wedding quilt was my ALYoF goal for July (post hereat the bottom) and I finished it just in time! It is also #1 on my Q3 FAL list.

This is the completed wedding quilt! I just adore it. I came up with the layout of the HST by myself after looking around at a few ideas I liked. I love the secondary pattern it made. The fabric is Social Club by the Comstocks.

My sweet hubby got the privilege of holding this one up. He was having a problem holding it all the way out though because he said he was too short. That's funny because he's 6'6". I didn't think at 72" square it would be that hard but it was and he had to take a few breaks to get all the pictures I wanted.

I'm totally in love with my red rocking chair, especially for a quilt photo prop. This one looks so good and snuggly on it.

I really love fun and interesting quilt backings and don't piece them if I can help it at all other than a single seam. I adore this fabric and think it is the perfect mix between fancy and fun. It is one of the prints from the Social Club line.

I had a ton of great ideas to quilt this but I just didn't have the time. I basted the top on Friday and it had to be in the mail on Tuesday at the latest. Thus, I went with a serpentine stitch on my machine every two inches. I love the texture it made!

I made a personalized tag for this one. I honestly never do that. I wanted it to say a bunch more and was going to write it but it needed to get shipped off and I didn't have a good fabric pen around. So, I went with the simple their names and mine. If only there was room for their wedding date I think it would have been perfect. The fabric for this tag conveniently came in my layer cake.

Here is my adorable niece with the quilt!

Here they are together with the quilt. Aren't they adorable?! Totally worth all the effort.

Now on to the crochet hats...

I got an order for this awesome crab hat. I just adore this one and it is one of my favorites in my shop.

The best thing about this particular order is that the hat was purchased for an adult male. I love it! I used my hubby's head for sizing but he was at work when I finished it and I didn't want to wait for mailing so I got a picture with me in it. It cracks me up.

Another great order this week was for a toddler size apple hat. I really like how simple but cute this hat is! So perfect for fall.

So one of my best and oldest friends just found out she was having a baby girl after trying to get pregnant again for years. She has three adorable boys but this is her first girl. I saw this dress and fell in love with it and then made a cute sheep hat to go with it. The yarn for the sheep hat was a bit off but it was the closest I could get. It's amazing how hard it is to match yarn!!

Here's a closeup of the hat. This sheep hat is also available in my shop and it was my favorite when my baby was tiny. One of Ruby's first noises sounded like baaa and it was so cute with her in this hat.

Well, that was my week of finishes. I've started crocheting while my hubby watches TV. He adores watching shows but I hate to sit still that long and the crochet helps a ton! I'm linking up with TGIFF and Fabric Frenzy Friday.

Miya and I made some progress on our next sewing goals this week. I also finished the quilt for the wedding but she wanted it to be a surprise so I have to post it either later today or tomorrow. My kids got involved a lot in my sewing this week and it was fun to do it together.

So I've mentioned before how I do random involves a big brown paper sack and a lot of stirring. Well, when the fabric comes in a nice stack, like a charm pack, it doesn't mix well because they are all a little stuck together. So, I pass out a pile to each of the kids and they toss them in the bag one at a time stirring every once in a while. All five of my kids got involved with this, you can even see the baby poking her head in to see what's happening.

So, after all their help I ended up with all this Kate Spain awesomeness in a bag ready for sewing. I reach in the bag, grab one without looking, and then sew away.

This is the rest of the fabric I needed for my quilt with the lines already drawn on the squares for the star points. This is Kona Silver and it looks awesome with all the various prints from Kate Spain's fabrics.

Here's an in progress shot. I have half of the star points sewn onto the squares and I'm making good progress with the second points. I'm planning on turning these into a modified Charming Stars quilt.

Now onto Miya's progress:

She got all the fabric cut out for her first quilt. We're all pretty excited about this over here. She is using the Daydreams pattern from the book Sunday Morning Quilts. She picked the pattern and the fabric all by herself after looking through all my quilt books. I love the background purple fabric that she picked to go with it.

She had a hard time cutting all this fabric - not an attention span issue - it was more of a "I'm too short to reach all the way cutting it!" issue. I loved it. So I had to fold the fabric in half again and then she had to push really hard to get through all the layers.

She's a total pro with the iron now. While she was pressing these she was humming and dancing around. It was pretty adorable! My iron also does a puff of steam every once in a while and she just LOVED that. It was adorable, she giggled every time and said "puff!"

Here are all her pieces pressed and ready to go. She's nearly ready for the part where all the pieces go together in rows and it gets big quickly.

Well, that's it for us this week. We're linking up over at Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

I finished the octopus just in time for my baby's birthday tomorrow. I'm so excited and I let her have a little peek and she's excited too! This is another finish of my Q3FAL list (found here). I also got a lot of progress on an order from my Etsy shop and pieced the top of the wedding quilt that needs to be in the mail on Tuesday. I'm so excited to share my octopus and my quilt top so I'm linking up with Fabric Tuesday, Fabric Frenzy Friday, TGIFF, and Finish It Up Friday.

Here's the octopus in all her glory!! I got this pattern here. I think the little embroidered face and her adorable bow really add to the cuteness. The bow is left over fabric from my Michael Miller challenge quilt and matches so well. I hand sewed it on pretty thoroughly and let the baby tug on it to make sure it stayed.

A customer ordered this crab hat for an adult man. It's going to be so funny! I used my hubby's head for sizing and may make him try it on for laughs. I need to create one more claw, then the eyeballs, and finally attach all the disembodied parts.

I made a ton of progress on the wedding quilt and it may actually meet the insane deadline! I started this in earnest last week and it needs to be done by Tuesday. I really love how pretty the trimmings look all piled up. I had to save them in a pile together so I could get this picture. It was pretty hard to keep five tiny hands out of it.

So, after about four hours of work I got 324 - 4.5" HST all trimmed up. I used my bloc-loc ruler and it is AMAZING! Seriously I cannot recommend these enough. I was telling my hubby all about how awesome it was and he wanted a comparison with my old ruler to see and he was amazed at how much faster I was with the bloc-loc with just one. Let me tell you it sure adds up when there are 324!

So my brain struggles with random. I'm WAY too controlling for that sort of thing. So, to combat that I throw all my pieces one by one in a brown bag and stir. Then without looking I pick out one by one. If it is exactly the same print I throw it back but otherwise I use it. This process works really well for random and takes the pressure off me.

This is the layout I chose for my HST. I found a couple of variations of the on pinterest and loved it so much I figured out how to make it with the number I had. This is the first block of nine.

I just love how it looks all pieced together and the secondary pattern the corners make. This quilt is 72" square. The backing and binding are coming in the mail today and then I'm going to get it all finished and hopefully in the mail on Tuesday so it can get to them by their wedding next Saturday. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

I have been into a lot of things this week. This is my busiest month for sewing. On the list this month was three quilts, a pillow, an octopus, my blocks for the Supernova Friendship Swap, and several crochet hats. I've already finished my Michael Miller challenge quilt (posted here), the pillow (posted here), and the supernova blocks, most of the octopus as well as a few hats. Check it out...

Here are my blocks for the Supernova Friendship Swap this month. I love how they turned out! This is one of my favorite colors lately and I'm so proud of myself that all of this fabric came from my stash. I mailed out my partner's block on Monday.

Here's the octopus. Isn't it lovely?! I'm so proud of myself. I had a few frustrating moments with this little thing but it worked out pretty well in the end. It still needs and embroidered face and a little bow before I give it to Ruby for her first birthday next week. (!!!) How did that year go by so fast? I found this adorable pattern here.

This is the beginnings of the next quilt on my list. I need to have it done in less than two weeks so it can me mailed in time for me niece's wedding on August 2nd. It could happen, maybe. I have all the HST made and half of the 320 pressed. I need to finish pressing and then trim. After that it's just some simple web piecing and quilt/bind. Okay, that sounds like a lot. I better get moving!!

These are the last things I've been working on. They are some fluffy sheep hats I'm working on for my shop/craft fair. Last year I was really unprepared for the craft fair and if I had more pre-made hats I would have made a ton of money. So when I watch TV at night with the hubby I work on crochet hats as well. It's pretty relaxing.

Well, that's it for this week. I need to get going on my wedding quilt to get it done in time! I also have to finish up that octopus for next Thursday. It's going to be another busy one. I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

It took me a while to get the inspiration I was looking for on my Michael Miller Challenge quilt. I had several ideas but none that I was really in love with. Then one day I was poking around on Pinterest for quilt and kept seeing stars that I loved - an idea was born. I wanted to do a quilt with several of my favorite stars from around the internet with lots of negative space. It finished up 60" by 76". This quilt is on my Q3FAL list (posted here).

Here's what I ended up with. I'm pretty in love with it. I picked out my stars and then was amazed when I looked in my new book "Vintage Quilt Revival" and there was a pattern with a bunch of negative space that used the same size and number of blocks that I wanted! This is the Sugar Snow quilt layout substituted with stars of my own choosing. I picked (largest first) Swoon, Star Surround, Green Mountain Star, Arizona Star, and the small six are from the Stars QAL.

This little star was one from the Stars QAL. She offered several different size options but I wanted 8" blocks (not a choice). I was surprised at how easy it was for me to do the math to shrink these down. They were pretty fun blocks to make.

I'm a big fan of minimal quilting - especially in straight lines. I was a little tempted to do something a bit more intense for this quilt because it was for a challenge but I liked staying true to myself better. I bound it in the same "dirt" (their name not mine) fabric that I used for the background and then the backing is a MM solid green. Can I just stop here and mention how much I love the feel of these MM fabrics? They are so soft! It was the first thing I noticed when I got my fabric.

My usual quilt holder was at work and I seriously couldn't wait to take pictures and share this one. So, I enlisted my oldest kids (age 8 and 7) to hold this up. They're obviously too short so I grabbed a pair of chairs and they did really well. I heard a lot of moans as I took the pictures from the behind the quilt and it cracked me up. I bought them off with a piece of candy and all was forgiven.

Here's a closeup of my favorite block - the swoon. I've had plans to make a swoon quilt ever since I saw the original several years ago but haven't gotten around to it yet. This was my first attempt at it and I'm pretty much in love. It wasn't any harder than I imagined and it looks so cool!

Well, there you have it. My kids all think I'm totally going to win first place but I'd really be surprised by that. I love this quilt and it was fun to try new stars and negative space - something I rarely, if ever, use. It was a fun challenge and either way I got a great quilt out of it! I'm linking this up over at Fabric Tuesday, Finish It Up Friday, andTGIFF

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Miya and I finished our Christmas pillows today. It was a bit of a long day of sewing as neither of our tops were done yet but so worth it! Our guild meeting with the theme Christmas in July is on Thursday so we even finished with a week to spare! This is my first finish from my Q3FAL list found here.

Here's Miya so proud of her pillow top. She did ALL of the work herself this time. That includes cutting, sewing, and pressing! For more on this check out this post.

We both finished our tops just before lunch time and then basted them.

We both also managed to finish our quilting today! Miya wanted snowflakes on her pillow and to use red thread. We found this stitch on my machine that was very like a snowflake and we ran with it. We marked the quilt and she followed the lines so well!

The backing, which she also did all by herself, is envelope style red tonal stripe from the same Ready Set Snow line.

I loved this picture too much not to share.

Here's my finish. Once again I used the Contact Print Pillow tutorial. I really love how this one works up. It really shows off the fabric which is In From the Cold by Kate Spain for Moda. I think the red background was a little risky but I love how it turned out. It looks so festive!

Here's my fun print on the back also from that line. I really love it!! I also did an envelope style back.

Here are our pillows together looking so festive and adorable. I can't wait for the meeting to show off my little girls work!

Here's a closeup of her quilting. I'm just AMAZED at how straight she stayed.

Here's a closeup of my quilting. I just did some straight lines in the horizontal stripes of the pillow about 1/4" apart.

I adore having a little sewing buddy and I can't believe how quickly she is progressing. I also love making fun little decorations for the house. Pillows are such a fun way to add to the festive feel! Thanks for stopping by and enduring my gushing! I'm linking up with TGIFF and Finish It Up Friday.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Once again I have quite the list for my finish along goals. I tried to narrow the list down to ones that I am more interested in and that I actually have a desire to work on. That took it down to 18. Here we go...

#1 Social Club Quilt - They are destined to be a quilt for my
niece who is getting married on August 2nd. I'm using the layer cake
to HST method I found at Material Girl Quilts and doing a block from her Layer Cake Sampler. This is also my July ALYoF project.

#2 Christmas Pillow - I'm going to turn this cute little candy pack into the Contact Print Pillow found over at Crazy Mom Quilts. Our guild is having a Christmas in July meeting so I want to get this one done quickly in time for that.

#3 Chirp Chirp Quilt - I used the Line Dance pattern again. This is the last one I've got planned with that pattern. It's so fun and makes a good size quilt with only one charm pack. It just needs to be quilted and bound.

#4 - MQG Challenge Quilt - I need to get on this one and I think I've finally decided how to quilt it. I can't wait to get going! It's due on the 25th of July.

#5 Mixed Bag Charm Pack Cherry - This was a fun pattern and so fast and interesting. I also used brushed cotton for the first time and love the feel of it. I need to quilt and bind this one.

#6 Octopus - I had this idea a while ago of making a cute stuffed toy octopus with buttons on the tentacles for fun texture. I'm finally making that happen for my baby's first birthday later this month. I found a cute pattern here.

#7 BYU Quilt - I went to college at Brigham Young University and just adored it. I've wanted to make a BYU quilt for quite some time but I just didn't know how to do it. Then I saw this and fell in love and will now make my own - just a little bigger. It was so fun to collect all the navy prints. Navy is one of my favorite colors.

#8 - Kate Spain Quilt - I was part of a Kate Spain charm swap earlier this year and I think I finally landed on what to do with them. I supplemented with some charm packs from lines that weren't as represented and I'm going to follow this tutorial.

#9 Mint To Be Swoon - Honestly I don't know if I'll even attempt this one but I'd really love to so I'm putting it on the list anyway and we'll see what happens. It's going to be a full size swoon quilt with these cute fabrics from the Mint To Be line.

#10 April Showers Quilt - I'm going to turn this lovely bit of fabric into a quilt for me using this Four Squared Quilt tutorial.

#11 Zigzag Quilt - This is going to be a pretty basic zigzag quilt for my Etsy shop. I have the squares made I just need to throw it together and finish it off.

#12 Road 15 Quilt - These will be another Happy Weekender quilt but this one will be for me. I recently made this pattern and then
I fell in love with this fabric and just had to have a quilt out of it
for me.

#13 Road 15 Pillow - I may have a bit of an obsession with the Contact Print Pillow. It's just so cool looking, easy, and cheap that I can't help myself. This will be my third go.

#14 Serenade Quilt - This is going to turn into the Twists and Turns quilt. I've had this fabric for
well over a year now and even had a pattern I bought it all for. Well, I
fell out of love with the pattern but still love the fabric so we're
going to try again and see what happens.

#15 Scrumptious Quilt - This Scrumptious is going to be the Pinwheel Baby quilt from
the Moda Bakeshop. The pattern for this one is so adorable complete
with tiny prairie points.

#16 Simply Style Quilt - I missed the QAL but I'm going to use this layer cake and the yardage to join in the Layer Cake Sampler over at Material Girl Quilts.

#18 Nancy Drew Quilt - This one has been tragically forgotten for quite some time now. I made it as a practice FMQing quilt and did 11 of 36 squares and then my machine broke. I need to pick it back up and finish it most because I could use the practice.

So there you have it. I've been finishing about half of these crazy lists I've been posting so that's pretty good! I've been averaging 10 finishes per quarter so I'm interested to see how this goes. I'm linking up to the Q3FAL goal post and WiP Wednesday.